Rapper arrested after set at SOMA

February 1, 2007

Duane Narvel Brown, a 21 year-old rapper performing under the name “D Black” was arrested outside the Bear Brew Pub in Orono last Saturday. Police departments from Bangor and Orono, assisted by the Maine State Police, the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency, and the State Fire Marshal’s Office, took part in the arrest of Brown when he exited the building after performing at SOMA, the pub’s second floor live entertainment venue.

Brown had been arrested over a year ago after allegedly robbing a man of $32 in Bangor. He was indicted on charges stemming from that incident last April by the Penobscot County grand jury. He’s wanted in Cumberland County for failure to appear in court on a subsequent concealed weapons charge following the indictment in Bangor.

According to Orono Police Sergeant Josh Ewing, law enforcement officials went to the Bear Brew Pub after receiving information that Brown would be performing there. Ewing said that Brown was arrested after he exited the building, as he lit a cigarette and was about to get into a cab with his girlfriend. Several people who were with Brown were also arrested and handcuffed at that time.

“He was being arrested for armed robbery, and it was a situation where there was a possibility of violence,” Ewing said. “We went in and overwhelmed them.”

Ewing said that after his arrested Brown was taken to the Penobscot County Jail without incident.

Bear Brew Pub owner Matt Haskell said that he wasn’t “going to make any comments” regarding Brown’s arrest, but insisted that it was the first time that he had ever had a problem with an entertainer booked through 3-D Entertainment.

“(The incident) has nothing to do with my pub,” Haskell said. “3-D Entertainment is a good company. I’ve never had any problem with them or any of their performers in the past.”
According to the man who was with Brown on the night of the alleged robbery that took place in Bangor in 2005, he and Brown had only intended to “scare a man.” Melvin Gay, 20, told the police that he and Brown were trying to scare a man who was walking ahead of them on Essex Street in Bangor when Brown allegedly pointed a pellet gun at the man. When the man kept walking, Gay shoved him.

Gay pled guilty to the robbery and was sentenced to seven years in prison with all but one suspended. He is currently serving his time in the Maine State Prison in Warren.